documents the influence of English musical style upon Dufay, Binchois, and other
Franco-Burgundian composers during the second quarter of the 15th century. By mid-
century, the impact of English music may be discerned in the fluid melodic style,
harmonic writing, and mensural practices of continental composers.
J.Michael Allsen
[See also: BINCHOIS, GILLES; DUFAY, GUILLAUME]
Fallows, David. “The contenance angloise: English Influence on Continental Composers of the
Fifteenth Century.” Renaissance Studies: Journal of the Society for Renaissance Studies
1(1987):189–208.
Strohm, Reinhard. “The Close of the Middle Ages.” In Antiquity and the Middle Ages, from
Ancient Greece to the 15th Century, ed. James McKinnon. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1990.
CONTRAFACTUM
. Adaptation of a new text to an old melody, a common practice in medieval music, seen
in 13th-century motets, as well as in troubadour and trouvère songs. An example of a
work that was subject to many contrafacta is Bernart de Ventadorn’s Can vei la lauzeta
mover, whose melody was adapted to seven additional texts, including Quan vei l’aloete
mover, Plaine d’ire et de desconfort, and sacred texts like Seyner, mil gracias ti rent and
Quisquis cordis et oculi. In the 14th century, several polyphonic French chansons were
provided with sacred Latin contrafacta in German areas.
Lawrence Earp
CONVENIENTIA
. A transaction of promise (Lat. convenio) between two equal parties expressed in a
written contract called convenientia was used widely among nobles and churchmen in
southern and central France in the central Middle Ages to seal agreements, often in place
of homage or other feudal transactions. The mutuality and equality of such contracts are
striking and in considerable contrast to the unequal relationships usually believed to be
expressed by vassalage or feudalism. The convenientia has been used to argue for the
nonexistence of feudalism in these regions (where, though, a fevum contract did exist, it
was used to record transactions in which tenants were granted land for cultivation rather
than to exchange property among warriors). Such convenientia contracts were used, for
instance, in compromise settlements after arbitration of disputes between monasteries
over pastoralism, in negotiation of marriage contracts between the children of elites, in
mutual-aid compacts between warriors (who in fact may have been of unequal power but
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